Jacques ou la soumission: a Quest for Sexual Liberation

For theatre lovers and scholars worldwide, Eugen Ionesco's name is indubitably associated with the Theatre of the Absurd or the Anti-Theatre, as the playwright himself names his dramaturgic works. Traditionally, a vast majority of Ionesco's scholars and critics focus on such topics as his depiction of the human condition and political statements, while also concentrating on the playwright's metaphysical approach of intellectual exile and the philosophy of death. However, the idea of the omnipresence of gender identity issues, the very source of Ionesco's dramatic works, earned by far less interest. As this article argues, Jacques ou la soumission, a play in which the sexual element becomes direct, dominant, and omnipresent, represents a struggle against identity reprogramming and a quest for sexual liberation.